Happy St. Valentine's Day

I went & picked up Diana last night from Eugene, so she's here for the weekend. She is doing so well with her finances, when her laptop motherboard went out, she was able to buy herself a refurbished Dell desktop, and she'll be taking that home tomorrow. She is soooo excited about the size of the monitor screen. She uses her computer for homework & art, and she's been hunched over her laptop since she got it (she loves it, but it's just not comfortable). Anyhoo - she's excited & now she will have a back up system when one or the other is having trouble (altho Lee thinks with cutting back on use of the laptop, it won't have as many issues since it may be due to overheating).

I woke up this morning to a box of Lindt chocolates (thanks Lee!!), and thru facebook I found that Dutch Bros. is doing free coffee today if you bring in 3 cans of food. I just was shopping yesterday & happened to get some cans of food for donation purposes, and now I get some awesome coffee!

If you are not familiar with Dutch Bros., they have figured out a terrific formula for success - really, really good products made with the best ingredients, super-cheerful employees, fast service, and freebies! When they open a stand, the offer free coffee the whole day to anyone willing to wait in line - not only does this cause the whole community to notice where they are, but it gives the newly-trained employees non-stop practice for their entire shifts. They also do free coffee for fundraising, like today it's a food donation. They also do free coffee for Mother's Day & Father's Day, and probably some other times. Even in these times, Dutch Bros. continues to expand & open new coffee stands. http://www.dutchbros.com/flash/ Lee's niece & nephews are part of their history - the guys that own the business are from Grants Pass, and Brian, Marla & (I think) Tony all worked at one of the original stands there when the business was just starting. I think they modeled the 'happy barista' on them, since that's just how their personalities are :) "Dude! You want some whip on that? Awesome!" (they swirl the whipped cream up the straw for the kids' hot chocolate - which is the best dutch hot chocolate ever).

So - if you're anywhere near a Dutch Bros. today, get 3 cans of food & get your free coffee for a happy Valentine's Day!!